Recommended Forks for Women

GoNads

Hi all, I'm looking in to making some changes to my bike, I ride a Kona fire mountain 18" which suits me just fine even though I'm female (long arms!) but I want to change the forks, their just a bit too heavy, too stiff and don't have enough travel. Being female and only weighing around 91/2 stone I want something light with decent travel. I ride XC and trails around the North Downs so mixture of terrain. Advice please?!?

Thanx

Andy B

Budget?

GoNads

Around £200

LoUiS1985

Hi, if you can stretch to £230 you can get RS reba sl (2008 model) from merlin. Great XC forks. they are fairly lightweight and plush, with motion control and with 85 or 100mm travel options.

Andy B

An air fork rather than a coil fork would be better as you can tune it to your weight, you will need a shock pump as well though (~£20)

Something like this http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=18 would be a very good upgrade, provided that the already cut steerer tube is long enough for your bike

also: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=29883

and: http://www.rutlandcycling.com/10382/Roc ... r=froogle1

dave_hill

Andy_B wrote:

An air fork rather than a coil fork would be better as you can tune it to your weight

I'd have said exactly the opposite.

Whilst there is no doubt that an air fork is more easily tunable, a coil-sprung fork has less inertia and will feel more supple.

They're slightly heavier than an air-sprung fork (but not by much) but will be cheaper than the equivalent air-sprung model. They're also simpler mechanicaly (less to go wrong), which is always important at the lower end of the budget range.

Tora 318 Coil U-turns? (Linky)

GoNads

What up keep is required on a RS Reba SL as I looked at those and they look really good

GHill

If you look at a coil fork remember to investigate the cost of a new spring too, you'll probably need a change due to your light weight.

Upkeep should be the same on most forks, but it will be detailed in the manual - see if you can download it from the SRAM website.

joshtp

Andy_B wrote:

Tora 318 Coil U-turns?

+1

supersonic

If it is lightweight you require, the Tora 318 Uturn perhaps not the best choice - Reba would be a better bet as is 1.4lbs lighter. Tora is a great fork, stiff, burly, superb value, but not light. The Dual Air sytem on the reba is easily tunable to yopur weight and poses no problems for 9.5 stone.

LoUiS1985

What up keep is required on a RS Reba SL as I looked at those and they look really good

have a look at this post, it should help you out a bit

www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14960293

Northwind

dave_hill wrote:

Whilst there is no doubt that an air fork is more easily tunable, a coil-sprung fork has less inertia and will feel more supple.

This depends on the fork I think... I'm a lightweight, just shy of 10 stone, and with my tora sls there was definately a feeling of inertia, as if everything was just fractionally delayed, when compared to coil toras. But then, I swapped to revelation dual airs andI'd say they're slightly more reactive and supple than the coil model.

So, yeah... I can recommend the air Revelation, it's light, has good performance and works really well even if you weigh nothing. I can't compare it with the equivalent fox forks though, they could easily be better. Of course, none of these are cheap unfortunately.

GoNads

I've ended up with a new bike!! after looking in to it I'd want to upgrade to disk brakes and in all my kona was just too heavy and big for me, thanks for all the advice though, I ended up with Giant Avante 2 with RS Recon forks, took it for my first spin today to Holmbury and Leith and had a whale of a time on Yog Pots!!

Slightly black and blue however, on SPD's for the first time and I'm not so sure at the moment.................anyone else find it tricky on trails??

supersonic

Heh, one way of doing it ;-)

But yes, if you are not used to clipped in pedals, get some flats and get used to the bike.

GoNads

i've got the Shimano DX M647 Pedals so I've got the option, going up hill I'm loving being clipped in, going to go out for a long ride tomorrow no trails to get a bit more used to them, think it's more the terror of being clipped in and stacking it!

woodywmb

Recommended forks for women. What about these
http://mypenmypaper.files.wordpress.com ... -small.jpg

dave_hill

GoNads wrote:

i've got the Shimano DX M647 Pedals so I've got the option, going up hill I'm loving being clipped in, going to go out for a long ride tomorrow no trails to get a bit more used to them, think it's more the terror of being clipped in and stacking it!

Make sure that the spring tension is backed right off to start with (read the instructions for the pedals if you aren't sure how to do this). As you get more used to the action of the pedals, increase the tension

Also, if you haven't got them, get a set of multi-release cleats for your shoes - easily identifiable by a large "M" stamped into them. These will allow you to release with a good tug in any direction rather than just by twisting.

Keep persevering with them - practice makes perfect!!